MPs vote to revoke Aung San Suu Kyi's honorary Canadian citizenship

Aung San Suu Kyi, the civilian leader of Myanmar and an honourary Canadian citizen, shares a laugh with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Wednesday June 7, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA — The House of Commons passed a unanimous motion Thursday to revoke honorary citizenship from Aung San Suu Kyi over her unwillingness to condemn the genocide Myanmar’s military is carrying out against that country’s Muslim minority.

Suu Kyi, once hailed as a hero and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her reform efforts, is now Myanmar’s state counsellor, a role roughly equivalent to prime minister. But she has been widely criticized for her failure to publicly denounce the ethnic-cleansing efforts against Rohingya Muslims perpetrated under her watch. Even as hundreds of thousands of people fled the country to refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, Suu Kyi claimed last year that reports of violence against the Rohingya were based on “misinformation.”

The United Nations recently released a report that concluded “patterns of gross human rights violations” witnessed during a fact-finding mission constitute “the gravest crime under international law,” and that found Myanmar’s military was systematically burning down Rohingya villages and perpetrating mass gang rapes.

Asked whether Suu Kyi should be stripped of her honorary citizenship, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday it was a question “that certainly parliament can reflect on. It was parliament that granted her honorary citizenship, and that’s a conversation that we certainly could have.”

Bloc Quebecois MP Gabriel Ste-Marie addresses the media in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018.THE CANADIAN PRESS

That endorsement quickly turned into action. The motion to revoke citizenship, put forward Wednesday by Bloc Québécois MP Gabriel Ste-Marie, received unanimous consent — although that consent was verbal, and many MPs did not vocalize their support, none objected to it.

Honorary Canadian citizenship is a symbolic title offered by Parliament, usually with a joint motion in the House of Commons and Senate. It does not offer any tangible, legal benefits such as a Canadian passport. Only six people have ever been granted the honour, which amounts to a political endorsement — the most recent, in 2014, was Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girls’ education activist. Suu Kyi is the first from whom the House has voted to remove the honour.

“In 2007, the House of Commons awarded Aung San Suu Kyi the title of honorary Canadian citizen. Today, the House adopted a unanimous consent motion removing that title. Our government supported this motion in response to her continued failure to speak out against the genocide of the Rohingya, a crime being committed by the military with which she shares power,” said Adam Austen, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.

“We will continue to support the Rohingya people through humanitarian assistance, targeted sanctions against Myanmar’s generals and by pushing for accountability for those responsible through an appropriate international body.”

Honorary citizenship is usually granted via a joint motion of both the House and the Senate. While the Senate did not discuss a similar motion Thursday, any senator could give notice of a similar motion at the upper chamber’s next sitting on Tuesday if it wanted to match the Commons.

The decision by the House follows another unanimous motion last week that recognized crimes against the Rohingya as genocide and endorsed the UN’s conclusions.

Bryon Wilfert, a former Liberal MP and now the Honorary Consul General for Myanmar, said the situation for Suu Kyi is more complicated than many believe. The country’s military is deeply involved in its politics and publicly denouncing crimes against Rohingya Muslims could put the political leader in jeopardy or prompt a military coup, he said.

Although he was not authorized by Myanmar’s embassy to provide an official comment, Wilfert said he believes that the House’s decision on Thursday missed the mark.

“Revoking her citizenship will not make one bit of difference in this whole situation. Absolutely none. Maybe make some of these MPs feel better, I don’t know, but have they tried to engage constructively on this issue?” he said, adding that he supports sanctions against the generals and military members who are perpetrating the human rights abuses.

“It’s very rich for a separatist member of parliament to be talking about revoking the honorary citizenship of a Canadian.”

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.